The First Vice Chair is defined by the South Carolina Democratic Party as an officer who “shall be of a gender different from the Chair.” Our current Second Vice Chair was not elected alongside our current Chair, so this criteria may not be met.
Dr. Bob Phillips grew up in Springfield and Columbia, SC, attended public schools in Columbia, and received a BA in English in 1967 from the University of South Carolina-Columbia.
In 1967, he shifted from the ministerial education track to educational and immediately got his draft notice. He enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve in 1968. He was awarded an MA in English from USC-Columbia in 1970 while I was on the deck force of USS Perry (DD844). PERRY was involved in the Jordanian Crisis during the fall of 1970 and ran Freedom of the Seas Operations in the Aegean and Black Seas during winter 1970-71.
Upon release from active duty, he married Sharon Muckenfuss and began graduate work at the University of Virginia-Charlottesville. He completed coursework and passed PhD orals in 1975. He was awarded a PhD in English in 1979.
In 1976, “Dr. Bob” and his wife moved to the Donalds/Due West area of Abbeville County. He began work at the Department of English and Foreign Language of Lander College, where he worked until 2012. He and his wife have three children and four grandchildren. Both are retired and work for the non-profit Avatar Meher Baba Heartland Center in Prague, Oklahoma.
He also co-edited Weevils in the Wheat: Narratives of Virginia Ex-Slaves, first published 1979.